Monday, April 30, 2012

Gerbera Set

Hello on May Day!

I have a gift that my Mom asked me to make for her friend.  I feel so sad though, it was a friend who just passed away.  She will never get to see it.


My mom left a message on my machine last week bawling,  as the boys and I listened to it we had this freaky fear that something else had happened to my Dad, but it was my mom's friend who passed away very suddenly, and she was in shock.  They had just been together as couples the day before, and were supposed to have coffee that very day as a Birthday celebration, and my Mom was going to give this to her.  

My mom and this friend used to teach Sunday School together when we were very small.  They became very good friends and I have many memories of times together as families, the first time I ever had fondue was at their house and one year she was my Pal in Pioneer Girls (anyone else have that program growing up?).  She was always full of life and fun.  They never had children of their own, but it felt like they *adopted* some of us along the way.

As time went on my mom and this friend grew apart a bit, and didn't talk for a long time.  Then in the past year this lady went into the hospital.  I encouraged my mom to go see her there.  And it sparked their friendship again.  I said to my Mom, "aren't you glad you reconciled with her before this happened?"  She said it was all because I encouraged her to go to the hospital.  (I'm really glad I did, and moreso that my mom went).

Time is short friends.  And I'm so glad that my mom and her friend had months of a renewed friendship that meant so much to both of them.  That they didn't let the time pass by with something between them, that they walked into these days without regrets, and chose love.  Such a reminder not to leave things unsaid, or love and kindness unspoken.

My mom wanted something vibrant to match a card I already had made (see post here), and she wanted candles.  They turned out beautifully.  Sometimes candles don't turn out perfect.  If you get the slightest pucker in the wax paper as you are heat setting it transfers to the candle and can't be repaired.  These candles transferred beautifully.

I stamped these Gerbera Daisies in Memento Ink and colored up the images with copics (and a very light hand) onto the tissue paper and I was really pleased with how vivid they came out.


On this larger candle I wrapped two sets of gerberas around the design.


Alright gang.  I'm off to spend some time with my little family.  My husband and daughter have been away for 6 days as she had her HS Band Tour and Festival in Whistler BC, 150 band kids from her HS went and 4 of them were kids in our youth group.  My husband went along as chaperone.  They had a wonderful time and I missed them!  I'm so glad to have them home!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Heartfelt Wreath

As I mentioned last night in my 365 post for the week, three people in our extended life passed away.  This morning I was up for announcements at Church, so I was the one to deliver the news that a special lady in our congregation just passed away early Saturday morning.  For many it was the first time they heard, and there was an audible gasp from the body, and many tears.  It's a very tender place to be in -  to be the one to deliver that kind of news.  She and her husband were such faithful greeters in the lobby, or foyer or "narthex", whatever your Church calls it.  She met and knew many people just by greeting on Sunday's.  She was on top of who was new, and who needed help, and who to direct to who.  It makes me smile just thinking about it.

I want to be a person to leave a legacy.  Not that people "gasp" when I'm gone, but that when people look at my life they see that I have made an impact, left an impression of a Jesus follower that drew them closer to Him.  I'm pretty reflective this week, you'll probably notice, but I think that's the right posture to have.

This week a number of the creations you'll see will be in honor of these three women that passed away.  Today, this card will likely go to the husband of this lady above.


I pulled out a lovely FLLC set that I haven't used in a long time.  It's called Seasonal Wreaths, and it combines lovely wreaths that can be used for many different ocassions.  I paired it with a sentiment from one of our Christmas sets, Petals and Peace.  It suited what I was trying to say.


I love these Spellbinders Ribbon Banners, but don't like that when the cardstock doesn't show the definition to the banner in the embossing, so I sponged a little Craft Vanilla ink over the die in place, and heat set it, it was just enough to give it some pop.  And the embossing folder on the red layer is STUNNING, I wish this sketch allowed you to see more of it, but I'll have to do more cards with it then, its called Compassionate - Art Noveau.  I used this month's SFYTT Sketch, just squeaking it in on the last day.    The papers are Bo Bunny Serenity.  


Gang, I'm really behind on commenting on blogs this week.  Just too much going on and I apologize, I hope to visit soon, but I also have a crazy week ahead too.  Youth Ministry Events are in the "windup- for-the-summer-before-we-get ready-for-a-mission-trip-mode".  Just wanted to let you all know what's up and that I appreciate you!

Copics:  R12, R56, R59, YG93, YG95, BG53, BG57, BG70, E43, E44

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Project 365 - Week 17

Hello again everyone!  Hope you've all had a good week.  Ours was a week of mixed joy and sorrow.  Three women we know passed away this week, they are all bringing in this Sabbath Day in heaven.  And our daughter was able to head out with her HS bands on their Spring Tour so she's having a blast playing and sightseeing in Whistler, BC. I know she's having a great time.  

On to this week's pictures.  


April 23 - Tiny Ladybug - at the Project 365 Blog the theme for last week was tiny things.  And I found this very lovely little ladybug meandering through the sprouting flowerbed in front of the house.  I love ladybugs :)  They're just pretty AND they eat the aphids that I fight with on my lupine!



April 24 - It's 50!  Tuesday nights is our small group Bible Study night, and we're in a leadership study with our Senior Pastor, pictured above :)  It was also his 50th Birthday and we brought them treats.  We are very blessed that he's our friend and Pastor.  My friend made this fruit basket for him!  Yummy definition on those blackberries!



April 25 - Administrative Professionals Day - as a Pastoral Staff we treat our Admin Staff to a special lunch made and served by us (in matching chef aprons no less :)  and then give them cards and plants to say thank you.  It's always a nice time together.  I feel very blessed to love the people I work with and really enjoy them a lot.  



April 26 - North Side Moss - I've always wondered if that cliche was true, that moss grows on the north side of the tree, it does!  Of course, it also grows on the other sides of this tree too!  



April 27 - Daffodil Day!  In honor of those fighting cancer, those who have fought, and to raise money to help those who will fight.  I wear my daffodil in honor of my beloved husband.  It was kind-of a fun shot to do too in the bathroom mirror!



April 28 - First Tulips - a gorgeous day today, and these are always my earliest tulips.  They're the dwarf kind but oh are they pretty!  We still had a day of sleety-snow this week that melted the same day, so I haven't even been able to get into my flower beds at all.  


I had to add this one too.  Today when our older son had his ball hockey game, our younger son played hide and seek with one of the coach's daughters whose just 5.  It was so sweet to watch them, so this is him counting so she can hide :)

Friday, April 27, 2012

Thank You Sweet Peas

Last week's Administrative Professionals Day cleaned me out of Thank You cards at home.  I pulled out everything I had in a 'Thank You' theme for our Admin staff and support staff, so I thought I'd put a card together today to have on hand.  You can never have too many thank you cards!


Playing with the TSG Sweet Pea mini set and the TSG Sketch for the week, and some Copic Markers.  

Here's the sketch...


I've used a kit from Flourishes from a few months ago that uses this pretty Glitz paper and gorgeous accessories, and the new Spellbinders shape Romantic Rectangles.  It's a really lovely new die cut shape.  


I sponged inside the rectangle with Early Espresso ink to warm it up, which works with the vintage feel to the papers.  You know, that velvet bow looks way better in person.  I must have bumped it when I set it up for the picture!  


ETA....Copics...RV63, RV66, RV69.  Hope that helps!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

From the Garden



A lovely little pit stop today in the garden at Flourishes, with this set From the Garden.  This was released a year or so ago and it has the loveliest images!  Illustrated by the gardening guru herself Marcella Hawley :)

I remember the first time I saw this image I had to ask what this was.  It's a gardening cloche designed to protect fragile flowers like this pretty orchid.  Then it all made sense to me!

I've colored it up with Copics to match this pretty MME paper called Fiddlesticks, framing it out with some gorgeous Spellbinders dies Artisan Tags and accents.  


Accents are Nestabling rhinestones, pleated satin plisse ribbon, braided cording trim and MME Blush Buttons, plus a tiny little resin flower accenting the sentiment below.  

Join the DT as they share their Flourishes Free For All creations with From the Garden today!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Blog Candy Winner!!

Thank you all so much for the really great comments and encouragment in entering the 400 000 Blog Candy last week!

I have to say it was really a blessing reading all your comments and hearing your input.  Here's some things I learned:


  • Based on one comment I've already added a SEARCH function on the blog, so you can plug in something you're looking for like say "masculine" and it will show you all those posts. 
  • Hearing that some of you take my photos and study them for coloring technique blows me away :)  (like seriously?  You do?)   And I love that you come to see my coloring, 'cause of course, that's my favourite part of it.  
  • I've heard you loud and clear that you'd like more "how to's" or tutorials.  I'll try to do better at that.  Honestly it's the time factor in what it takes to photograph and edit tutorials, but I can try to do it more often for you, or some more regular features that you'd enjoy.  
  • And again the #1 requested thing is more masculine creations.  I've thought about maybe doing a monthly feature on masculine
  • And hearing that you're enjoying the 365 Project really blessed me.  I'm not doing it here on the blog because I thought it would get a lot of comments, but as a way of being accountable to doing the project and sharing a little of my life with you.  And I'm so glad you're enjoying it.  I am too :)  

Thanks so much for joining me on this creative journey!  I have so much fun interacting with you and really appreciated all your comments.  Sometimes you feel like you're talking thin air out there, so it's especially nice to hear from you!  Big hugs from me!


and based on "random.my two sons" (wink!)  who picked #47 the winner is...

Lynn Phelps:  AWESOME!!! Congrats on reaching this huge milestone! My favorite posts are when you talk about your design process, and when you talk about coloring decisions. Of course I love ALL your posts, but I really enjoy the posts where you outline your thought processes as you are making design choices about the card. :-)


Lynne, email me (see my profile page for my email) in the next 48 hours and I'll mail this out to you!  Congratulations!  Woo Hoo!

Monday, April 23, 2012

It's a TCP Blog Hop!


Welcome to the April Blog Hop for the Cat's Pajamas!  Today you're going to find some yummy things along the way with the all the new goodies at TCP that are now available!  With our theme of handmade flowers I created a cozy warm little card for you...


I really love this set!  I wanted to pull it out and play again with some paper piecing and coloring and these great papers from Authentique called Gathering.  I loved the notebook paper with the bold flowers that was the perfect paper for this book loving pair and these gorgeous pom pom flowers done with the new Cut Ups from TCP with some felt.  


The flowers add such awesome dimension and they are so easy to make with this Cut-Up!  All of April Release sets and Cut-Ups are now available from TCP!  

A few pearls, the quilt edge punch and some seambinding and it's sweet!

Thanks for dropping by.....and to keep traffic going in the right direction, I'm sandwiched between two awesome and talented ladies, both of whom I used to be on the Dirty Dozen with!  It's a sweet little reunion!  You should have come from: 

and now you're headed to:

and if you get lost along the way, head to Julie's Blog to start all over!

Thanks TCP this has been a fun and fantastic week creating with these awesome new goodies! It was so much fun to be Swanky!   I've had the best time, and thanks to all of you for dropping by and your kind words!

Enjoy Every Cuddle


One more round of fun The Cat's Pajamas goodness before the Blog Hop tomorrow!  And is it ever fun!

This card was SO fun to make!  I started by creating a cozy little scene with Glitz papers, Happy Travels.  I love the warmth it it, so I went to coloring-and-paper-piecing-town on the design.  All of my kids love to read and my mom, their Grandma made each of them a cozy little stuffed reading chair that look a lot like this chair!  Each has it's own unique design and fabric.  

Don't they look like a happy little pair?  And what a precious sentiment too, Enjoy Every Cuddle.  Such an important reminder for us and our kids, time goes so quickly!


A very cute sketch from DeconstructingJen from a few weeks ago that I altered a bit to make it work.  

Hasn't this been fun?  Tonight is the Release Party in the SCS TCP Forum and you won't want to miss it!  Check out the rest of the Sneaky Peeks today by checking out Alma's Blog - Dancing in Pajamas.  

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Friends are the Stars


How's it going Sneaky Peekers?  Ready for another set from The Cat's Pajamas?  I have a sweet one for you today that I'm over the moon about {wink!}


See what I mean?  Look at that glowing crescent moon for Bun Bun!  I gave this some soft glowy coloring with Prismacolors making even the ears glow around the moon.  You can see double layering of the new heart Cut Up Border which I accented with some faceted gems and velvet ribbon. 


And of course the pretty moon has to glow so I've added some glitter overtop of the coloring tho make it really shimmer.   ***ETA - The DP is SEI - On the Coast for those who've asked :)  Check out Alma's Blog today Dancing in Pajamas to see who else has Sneaky Peeks of this darling set to show you!

And wait till you see what's up for tomorrow!  

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Project 365 - Week 16

Week 16!  A quick reminder to my paper-crafty friends, I have blog candy HERE till Tuesday night....don't forget to enter!

A lot of what you'll see this week has to do with food.  I'm not really sure why?!  


Sunday April 15 - Paninis!  We have developed a weekend routine, usually on Saturdays (but this week it was Sunday supper) to have paninis.  Yummy hot grilled sandwiches (on the George Forman Grill!  Works great!).  A combination of rye bread, meats, cheese, grilled peppers, pickles etc.  The kids love it. 



Monday April 16 - He Remembers - One lovely thing about my husband is that he remembers things, and is thoughtful about them.  The older two kids had mentioned off-handedly that they love pears.  I haven't bought any for a long time, so when my husband went to get a few groceries he picked up pears.  The next couple of pictures are pears as I was playing around with white balance, but the above one is my favourite :)  



In this one the light was too blue, I didn't have quite the right white balance, but it is kinda cool too.  Sort of a watercolory-still life effect. 


And this one is pears in direct sunlight with hard shadows.  I kind of like the contrasts and the shadows from the chair spindles to the left.  



Tuesday April 17 - Asian Lunch - Went for our Tuesday lunch date for some rice bowls and got this fortune cookie.  They have great shape.  The detail is good if you click on it to make it larger. 



Wednesday April 18 - Red Red Robin - So good to see them back in our neck of the woods, but I felt so bad for the poor little guy.  We had yet another spring snow storm and the ground was white for several days and these poor guys must be having a hard time finding bugs and worms!   I think he was going to have to resort to our bird feeder for sustenance.  




Thursday April 19 - {{{Coke}}} Sigh...  Best drink ever!  I'm surprised it's taken me this long to photograph it's loveliness!  (LOL!)  Well, probably because I didn't drink it for 3 months, knowing it's not very good for me.  But when my Dad went into the hospital I went on a little hiatus from my abstaining....I should get back to it again....but it's just so yummy!



Friday April 20 - 40th Birthday - My sister in law is celebrating her 40th Birthday this week, so we had a little party for her at my Mom and Dad's place.  My brother is lighting all the candles and I love the look of curiosity on my nieces face.  The backlight is a little strong from the window behind...but it does have a bit of a dreamy effect.  

and it was also our daughter's 1/2 Birthday, she's 15 1/2 now so I had to take a picture of her too and include it.  The contrasts are great in this picture I think. 



And guess what, not a spare minute Saturday to take pictures, we had 2 ball hockey games, a musical that one of our students were in and people over for supper.  I completely forgot about my camera! But I've given you lots of peeks at our life this week.  Thanks so much for dropping by!

I mustache you....


Hello friends!  Today you will find the The Cat's Pajamas team showcasing one punny set with a theme that's all the rage right now in the Design World and I know all of you TCP fans were dying to see this one....


Yep...."I mustache you to have a great birthday".  :)  So fun right?  It's a set full of fun and punny mustachio ideas!  I've paired one of the mustaches with a new Cut-Up die to trim it out into it's perfect shape, as well as using the Cut-Up Pom Pom flower trimmed in half to create my "mustachio" borders a long the dp (which if you look carefully you'll see has mustaches too :) and then under the bow tie and sentiment.  

I went with a super clean design and palette, so it would have more of a graphic effect.  


The bowtie is made with a bow-easy tool.  Gives him that dressed up feel!  

Be sure to head to Alma's blog Dancing in Pajamas to see who else has Sneaky Peeks today too!  

Friday, April 20, 2012

Aye Aye!


Second post for today please scroll down for my Flourishes post!  All you TCP Bunny lovers out there are going to flip when you see today's set!  It's SO fun!


EEE! Right?  It's called Aye, Aye and I think it's awesome!  I love how this card turned out!  I went with a Prismacolored bit of fun for the coloring on this nautical scene.  I created a little wave/water action and some woodgrain in the boat for fun.  I wrapped a bunch of twine around the bouy and curved the sentiment to fit around the circle, stamping the smaller bouy's on the blue paper.  


There's just something so clean and perfect about how blues and reds go together!

Backatcha tomorrow with another fun Sneaky Peek from The Cat's Pajamas!!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Girly Laundry Line


I'm so excited to bring you another peek at Flourishes April Releases!  I did a little creative playing with this card and some pretty paper from Prima - Songbird making a very girly creation, playing off the other clothes-line image in this set.  


I created this 6 x 6 card for a very special baby girl.  I was inspired by the pattern in this page of paper and created a "clothes-line" with the larger images in the set, making the baby onesie into a little dress, and pinning it all up with mini-clothespins.  I think it's so sweet!


As you can see I've colored the binding with copics and then stamped the flowers from our Tiny Flowers and Tags set all over the onesie in shades of coral.  Then I added a little "skirt" with silk ribbon and edged it with cording.  Adorable hey?  


Here's the little baby booties that I blinged up a little with some Prima faceted heart "buttons".  I had a pair of leather booties just like this with laces from when I was a baby.  

I used Spellbinders Fancy Tags Three to crown the image off, Creative Pages Two for the decorative square framing and the Pennants die to add extra pennants to the line.  

Join the DT today in another look at these gorgeous sets.  Remember today it the last day you can purchase the New Release Bundle at a 10% discount!  Don't miss out!

Bubbles = Therapy



Welcome back to another round of Sneaky Peeks from me for the new Releases at The Cat's Pajamas! Today's cute set is called Bubble Therapy and I have a inviting little scene for you.


Doesn't Sprinkle Kitty Kat look quite relaxed?  :)  I've put together a little spa scene with some fun papers from Basic Grey Picadilly.  I had in my head that I wanted to make some wainscotting on the wall with my ScorBuddy, and wallpaper above. I'm more of a shower person, but of course I don't have this cool looking claw-foot tub either.  


I've added some sparkle to the bubble and sentiment for some extra fun, isn't the rubber duckie cute?


And here you can see a little of the dimension to the design.  

Be sure to check out the Sneaky Peeky designs from the Cat Pack at the TCP Blog 


Stamps:  The Cat's Pajamas - Bubble Therapy;  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Marina Mist;  Paper:  Marina Mist, Flourishes Classic White, Basic Grey Picadilly DP;  Accessories:  Big Shot, Labels 8 Nestabilities, Copic Markers (B93, B95, B97, BG0000, G0000, BV0000, Y15, Y17, Y13, C7, RV21), TCP Ribbon, Bow Easy, Scor Tape, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, SU Button.